Chapter 4

I sat in his stupid car as we drove to his stupid house. Stupid old man-whore ass.

I laughed out loud.

Ian looked at me. "What?"

"Nothing."

A pause.

"Can I ask you something?" Ian asks me.

"What?" I say bitterly.

"Why did you say 'No I don't' when I was kissing you?"

Me: Blush.

"Helloooo?"

"I was talking to myself."

"you told yourself 'no I don't'?" He asked, as if he didn't believe it.

"Yes." I spat. "My mind was telling me I care about whether or not you hate me."

"Why wouldn't you care if I hated you?"

"Because I don't care about you!" I yelled.

Ian: Silence.

When we arrived at his house, Ian opened the door and walked in, then closed it behind me.

I stood there, not knowing what to do.

"You can sit down." He said from behind me.

I jumped a little and went to the couch. I sat down and Ian went to the stereo.

"What do you want to listen to?" He asked me.

"What do you have?" I said quietly.

"Your CDs." He smiled at me over his shoulder.

Grr…. "Seether." I said through my teeth.

He put in the Seether CD and the song "Remedy" came on.

He walked over to the couch and sat down next to me. I started to lean away from him.

He noticed and smile/smirked.

I swallowed audibly.

He leaned down and whispered, "Don't be afraid of me."

"I'm not!" I yelled.

"okay…Then don't be afraid to get close to me."

Me: Nothing. Thinking: StabYouStabYouStabYou

After a while the CD stopped and Ian got up to change it.

"Uh…" I cleared my throat. "What do you like to listen to?"

"I don't listen to much music." He said, his back still to me. He was looking through my CDs. "Ooh." He said. "A mix CD!"

I rolled my eyes. Tard.

He pressed play and my CD began to play. The first song was "Save Me" by Shinedown.

"Shinedown? Really?"

"Shut up."

"Sorry," He said sitting back down. "I'm just saying you listen to a variety of music."

I inched away from him again.

"Can I ask you a question?" He said after a moment.

"What?" I asked warily.

"What do you like most about me?"

"Huh?"

"Well, Physically."

"Why?"

"I'm just curious. I like your eyes. They hold secrets." He laughed.

Me: Blush.

"Come on, tell me!" He said, tickling my stomach.

"Ah! Okay! Stop tickling me! GAH!"

He chuckled and pulled his arms off of me.

I mumbled my answer to annoy him.

He leaned close to my ear and whispered, "That's not going to work and you know it."

So I turned my face and yelled "YOUR VOICE!" and laughed.

"You set that up!" He laughed pulling back.

"Yep."

"You like my voice?"

Insert mega-blush here.

He leaned in so close to me that I could smell his cologne. Yeah, he's wearing the one that jacks my brain up. I should probably tell him there's some kind of chemical in it so his skin won't boil off or something.

Hm…

"I'll try and talk more often." He said seductively in my ear.

Me: Chills

Ian chuckles again.

KillYouKillYouKillYou

"Like that's possible." I said in a shaky voice.

He pressed his lips to the hollow spot under my ear.

Me: More Chills

Out of nowhere, he grabbed my arm and jumped up, pulling me with him and started dancing around with me. It reminded me of his and Vicki's dance in "Lost Girls".

I just hope he doesn't snap my neck.

Ha.

He was skipping around his living room, pulling me with him. I was getting annoyed.

He laughed at my sour expression and picked me up and spun me around. I couldn't help but laugh. Ian walked over to the stereo, turned it all the way up and we started skipping around the house together singing, "Someone save me if you will, take away, all these pills!"

Not exactly the happiest song ever, but it was fun.

I started to sing the words while we danced like idiots.

"Jump on the altar! Lay down with me! The hardest question to answer is why!"

Then Ian started singing with me, "Somebody save me! Somebody Save me! Please don't erase me!"

The song ended and we collapsed onto the couch again, laughing.

He leaned over and kissed me on the lips, then said, "You sure know how to have fun."

CRAAAPPP…. I completely spaced on that.

He's supposed to hate you, remember?

Well, I just have to get him to get angry enough to fly off the handle.

Okay…

The next song came on. It was "Eat You Alive" by Limp Bizkit.

Ian laughed.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"Nothing."

"I think this song goes with Damon and Elena." I stated randomly.

He listened for a moment, then grinned. "Yeah, I guess it does."

He checked his watch. "It's time for you to get ready."

UGH!YAY!CRAP!FINALLY!

"So you have 15 minutes."

"Huh? Sorry, what?"

He grinned at me and placed his head on my lap. "Space out?"

"Yep." I said looking down at him.

"You…have…fif…teen…minutes…"

"Dude!"

"'Dude? Really? Dude?'" He said, quoting Damon.

"Oh Shut up. What do I have 15 minutes to do?"

"Get ready for our double date with "Stefan and Elena"."

I rolled my eyes. I forgot about that.

"Fine. You'll have to take me home to get some clothes."

He grinned and pointed across the room without turning his head. "Clothes."

There was a big black bag on the floor.

I glared down at him. "I hate you."

"I know, my love."

"Don't call me that!" I yelled, jumping up letting his head fall onto the couch cushion. I walked over to the stereo, pressed off and walked to the bag.

I stopped. I was hoping to make a dramatic "Mad as Hell" exit to the bathroom, but I forgot where it is.

Daaammmmiiiittt….

"Down the hall. 2nd door on the right." Ian said. He was still laying on the couch, and he had his hands behind his head and was looking at the ceiling.

KillYouKillYouKillYou

My mom picked out a pretty good variety of clothes for me. I guess I was spending the night. Gosh.

I picked up a black camisole, dark wash jeans, white tennis shoes and my denim jacket.

I put it on, curled my light blonde hair (my mom put all of my bathroom items in there, too thank goodness) and fixed my make-up.

When I walked out, Ian was nowhere in sight.

I walked into the living room. No one.

"Ian? Are you being creepy."

"Maybe!" He yelled grabbing my shoulders from behind.

I let out a pitiful scream, then put my hands on his bare chest and pushed him away.

IgnoreIgnoreIgnore…psh…who was I kidding?

I looked at him, his wet hair contrasting with the blue of his eyes. I bit my lip and felt my face turn red.

He smile/smirked. "You know," He said taking a step towards me, making me take a step back reflexively. He put his hand on my shoulder and leaned into me. "It takes you longer to get ready than it takes me to take a shower?"

My lip was starting to hurt.

He's purposely doing this to you.

Ian looked at my bit lip and leaned down to kiss me.

Craaaapppp…..

…Again

Ian and I walked out the door, him in a nice black button-up shirt, dark jeans and black shoes.

Darn my lack of will power to be attracted to him…

I pulled out my cell phone in the car and tried to call mom to 1. Chew her out for making arrangements to sleep at Ian's house, and 2. Thank her for packing my clothes.

She didn't answer. The answering machine did. But she always answers when I call. She promised she would. Mom changed the answering machine recording. It used to say, "This is Alana and Jessica; sorry we're not here, but leave a message and we'll call you back! Bye!"

Now it's "Hey, this is Alana Fain. Sorry I'm not here now, leave a message and I'll get back to you."

"um…Hey, mom. I'm going to…um…well, I'm not really sure, but call me later. I'll be here-at Ian's. love you. Bye."

I closed the phone and had tears in my eyes. It's like she excluded me from the family. She didn't pick up the phone and she changed the answering machine.

Why am I crying? If I doomed to marry him, I'm not part of my mom's-NO!

NOT MARRYING HIM!

"Are you okay?" Ian's voice snapped me back.

"Wha-oh yeah."

"Why did you call your mom?"

"To thank her for packing my bag." I leaned my head against the back of the seat.

He chuckled softly. I looked at him.

"She didn't; I did."

Me: Blush. "You went through my things?"

"Why are you mad?"

"You went through my stuff!"

"It's not like I saw anything I haven't seen before."

"GAH! You are so…just…" I took a breath. I was supposed to be pissing him off, not the other way around.

He pulled into a restaurant, next to a black SUV and unlocked the door. "Now," He said to me. "When you get out, you may be blasted with cameras, reporters, crap like that, just ignore them. Don't act like it bothers you, and don't say anything to them." He smiled at me and stepped out.

He opened the door for me and BAM! I'm blind.

Cameras and a eruption of incoherent voices were all around us. Ian just smiled and waved. I hid under his arm like a shy child. We walked through the door and met Paul and Nina.

"Hey!" Nina greeted us as we walked in. The sudden silence made my ears ring. Nina hugged me and Paul smiled at me.

Not a very touchy-feely person, huh? I thought at him. Heh. I like you best.

Nina was wearing a dark pink blouse that was synched at the waist and black leggings, while Paul was wearing a white dress shirt and khaki pants.

The Maitre d' came to us and grinned widely. "Hello, my name is Amanda. How may I serve you?"

Paul spoke up. "We have a reservation for four."

"Amanda" looked at the list for a millisecond and said, "Ah yes, come with me, please."

She led us through the fancy restaurant. And I mean fancy. Chandeliers, candle lit tables, red table cloths.

We all sat down at a table. Nina across from Ian, Paul across from me.

"Our specials today will be…" I missed whatever the hell she said. Ian, Nina and Paul looked at my blank face.

"May we see a menu, please?" Ian asked her.

"Certainly." She handed him and Paul a menu. Nina looked at it with Paul. I sat there.

Amanda looked at us. Probably wondering who I was and why I was with these "pretty" people. "May I interest you in our special wine?" Apparently everything was so "Special" in pretty-rich-people town.

"Yes, please." Paul said.

"I'll get it right away."

"Thank you" Ian, Paul and Nina said.

Is there a script I should know about?

Ian leaned in and whispered, "Don't worry. You'll catch on."

Me: Blush

I looked up. Paul was smiling at me.

"How are you getting situated?" He asked me.

"Fine." I said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Ian touched my leg soothingly. I yanked it away.

He looked at me questioningly.

Ha ha! You're getting to him now!

I know!

"So Jessica. What would you like?" Nina asked me.

"Uh… I don't know."

She smiled.

A waiter in a "Fancy-Waiter" suit came by.

"Hello Ladies, Gentlemen." He had a thick French accent.

He poured a small amount of wine in all of our glasses. Paul, Ian and Nina tasted it. I did not. I don't know how; I didn't get the script, remember?

"Great." Nina said.

The waiter smiled and set the wine bottle on the table next to the candles. "Are you ready to order?"

"Just a few minutes please." Paul replied.

"Certainly." He said, then walked off.

"Are you not going to taste the wine?" Nina asked me.

"Uh…I'm not old enough." I glared at Ian. "Remember?"

He frowned at me, knowing I was talking about our age difference.

I looked down at the menu Ian was holding.

After we finally got our food, we finally got into a full conversation rather than just "small-talk" .

"Uh…no!" Ian said. "Snowboarding."

Nina disagreed. "I say Surfing all the way. What do you think, Jessica?"

"Um…Never really done either of them."

They looked at me in disbelief.

"You really do live under a rock." Paul laughed.

"Yep." I looked at Ian. He tells them stuff about me?

He was oddly focused on his own steak. He looked up to see me staring and he smiled a small smile. It was not returned. I looked back to Nina and Paul. They noticed the awkwardness of it, too.

You're really jacking with him.

Yep. Finally!

Then why do you feel guilty?

Shut the hell up.

"So…How are you liking Ian's house?" Paul asked.

"It's…good. It's big." Really? I just made the statement of a four year old. …nice.

"Yeah." Paul said, taking a bite of whatever he was eating.

After we had finished, I guess we all agreed we didn't have the patience for dessert, so we started to head out the door.

I hid behind Paul.